Mother wrongly branded a threat

A mother had her unborn son put on the child protection register and was wrongly branded a potential child abuser due to a “catalogue of errors” by social workers, an inquiry by Norfolk’s local safeguarding children board has found.

The inquiry called a report by a social worker working on the case “inaccurate, unrepresentative and unbalanced”, adding that social workers had discriminated against the mother on the grounds of her mental health condition. It found there was “insufficient” evidence to justify putting the unborn baby on the child protection register.

In a statement, Norfolk Council‘s children’s services director, Lisa Christensen, said: “There were clear errors in how we handled the case, for which we have sincerely apologised and continue to do so.

“A panel wholly independent of the council examined the complaint and how it was dealt with, and made a number of recommendations for the authority to consider, all of which are being acted on and some of which have already been implemented.”